new york post nov 2006

PARTON PORTRAIT: IS IT ANDY'S?
November 19, 2006 -- A KITSCHY Andy Warhol portrait of Dolly Parton expected to fetch up to $1.5 million last week at Sotheby's didn't sell - and a talented Warhol copycat claims maybe the reason is that the work isn't really by Warhol.
Veteran artist Horst Weber says he produced more than 24,000 Warhol works over eight years - including images of Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson and Madonna - for Warhol's studio, which then sold them as genuine works of the famed pop artist.

"Warhol or an assistant would take a photograph or use a stock photo from a service, and we would normally handle the rest," explained Weber. "We had so much work, we used to farm it out to neighboring shops, and none of their employees had any contact with Warhol whatsoever."

Weber has particular memories of the oversized Parton portrait produced in 1984. "Although we made many paintings of Dolly Parton, I remember this particular one as I decided to make it with sugary colors," he said. "And the fact that this painting of Dolly Parton is unsigned means there is a very good chance that Warhol had never actually laid eyes on it."

Weber also points to a Sept. 18, 1985, entry in Warhol's diary, in which he laments how Parton's manager, Sandy Gallin, backed out of buying it. "[His] secretary got on and said, 'Ohhh, Sandy's soooo embarrassed' - that it just doesn't look like my art . . . And after 15 minutes, she popped the question: Could he get his $10,000 deposit back?"

While other Warhol pieces sold for millions in separate auctions at both Sotheby's and Christie's last week, the Parton portrait was one of the few that didn't.

A Sotheby's rep insists the Parton piece is a true Warhol: "The work is stamped on the overlap by the Andy Warhol Authentification Board and in fact was once owned by the Warhol Foundation."